


Hello

by Azurith



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 08:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18752680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azurith/pseuds/Azurith
Summary: Estinien finally comes to the Warrior of Light after he discovers she awoke after the battle. He is wholly unprepared for what he finds.Only slight hints of a past romantic intent.  Generalized Female WoL.





	Hello

The Warrior of Light buried her head in her hands. There were no more tears, there hadn't been for a while. Only a vaguely numb feeling that she couldn't shake. 

He had avoided her for 2 years. She had struggled, fought, bleed and watched others die. 

Estinien had gone off to find himself. To find out who he was once his life goal had been achieved, and he shed the mantle of Azure Dragoon, looking to distance himself from his past life as both Ishgard's protector and Nidhogg's vessel.

 

It was a luxury she didn't have. To take a step back, collect herself and take a rest. It was one she would likely never know.

And it had driven her to the breaking point.

 

She had lost *everyone*, where they dead? No, but they weren't alive either. Trapped in some kind of limbo she didn't understand, and the very people she would turn to for help were the very ones locked in this deathless slumber.

 

And NOW, now he had chosen to step back into her life. To play savior. Aymeric had told her what Estinien had done. Thought she'd be happy to hear of his involvement.

Instead she punched the bed. She'd had a feeling for awhile that he had been following her. Or Alphinaud, she wasn't sure who. The explosion at the Castrum, the Eye's disappearance after the battle with Shinryu. Hints of his presence. 

 

At one point she would have been very happy to have heard of him....to know he was okay, that he cared for her well being. That point was two years ago.

Estinien had changed, but so had she.

When she had first meet him he had been so full of anger and the need for vengeance. It seemed like he had gotten his fill, while her appetite was yet growing. 

At one point she could say she loved him.

Now she didn't think she could love anything, her rose colored glasses shattered. 

 

When he found out she was awake and not wasting away like the others he had seen fit to seek her out. 

She took her hand from her face and reeled back and in a flash punched him in the chest. She was no Monk, but it was still a blow strong enough to send him stumbling back on the floor when he wasn't expecting it.

"Now....you chose now to finally decide I'm worth your time?" her words seethed with rage through clenched teeth. 

She didn't give him a chance to recover. "Where were you when I needed you!? Off on your little journey of enlightenment?" her voice trembled as her volume grew. "Finding yourself involves abandoning me? Alphinaud?" she clenched her fists. "He's gone! Taken by what ever crazy thing it is that follows me around." she screamed, tears threatening to spill, it was like a dam had broken and all the emotions were flooding out at once. Tears she didn't think existed anymore.

"They all are, Y'stola, Thancred, Urianger. Even Alphinaud's sister Alisaie." she shook with all the frustration and pent of rage inside her, and was now hitting him on the chest pounding on his armor. With a loss of what else to do Estinien's arms came up wrapping around her in an attempt to restrain her assault.

To say that Estinien was taken about was an understatement. It had taken him so long to respond out of sheer shock. That she was...this broken. It hurt worse than the punches he had taken from her anger. He had come to see her as an immovable pillar. In their trek across Dravania he had come to see her as an equal, not as someone he had to protect, but someone who had his back. And ultimately she did. 

He had come to love and admire her, and when his trial was over, he felt unworthy to offer up his serves too her. To stand in her presence. He had been weak when she was strong.....

But the horrible realization had hit him. While he had watched her from the shadows, he hadn't been there for her....he hadn't had her back, whether he felt worthy or not.

He had treated her like everyone else. An indomitable hero, when he had known better. He had seen her cry when Haurchefant died. The devastation on her face when Yasle had sacrificed herself. The pain it caused her. Estinien had seen the struggles, he had seen her fight. He had laughed with her, cried with her, fought with her. He knew her humanity. 

And he had still failed to see the person beyond the title when he truly needed too. 

Guilt washed over him, a familiar feeling, but this time for a different reason. 

"I'm sorry." Was all he could muster.

The Warrior of Light pulled away standing , turning away as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Sorry would have worked 2 years ago." she replied, grabbing her weapon and heading for the door. "I've made it this far without you, don't you dare think you get to walk back into my life because you finally feel like it." she snapped slamming said door behind her. 

Estinien stood there in silence letting her go, having no idea how to fix what he had broken.


End file.
